A senior US delegation faces the mammoth task of pressuring Turkey to halt its offensive in north-east Syria or face sanctions, hours after Donald Trump said his country had no stake in defending Kurdish fighters who died by the thousands as the US’s partners against Islamic State.
The US vice-president, Mike Pence, is leading the delegation to Ankara, along with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the White House national security adviser, Robert O’Brien. They are expected to meet the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at 2.30pm local time (12.30pm BST).
On Wednesday Trump hailed his decision to withdraw US troops in Syria, paving the way for the Turkish offensive, as “strategically brilliant”, declaring that the Kurds he had abandoned were “much safer now” and were anyway “not angels”.
Article submitted by, Great Gazoo.